In proof of the severity with which the laws against forgery were enforced,
I have been referred to the case of Hatfield, hanged in 1803 for forging
franks. It is given very fully in Mr. De Quincey's "Literary Recollections
of Coleridge" in the first volume of the Boston edition of his _Works_.
The story has some romance in it, and excited great interest fifty years
ago. Hatfield had lived by swindling; and, though he underwent an
imprisonment for debt, had, upon the whole, a long career of success. The
last scene of his depredations was the Lakes, where he married a barmaid,
who was called "The Beauty of Buttermere." Shortly after the marriage he
was arrested, tried, and executed. Mr. De Quincey afterwards lived in the
neighbourhood, dined at the public-house kept by Mary's father, and was
waited upon by her. He had the fullest opportunities of getting correct
information: and his version of the story is so truthlike, that I should
have accepted it without hesitation but for the hanging for forging a
frank. As that offence never was capital, and was made a felony punishable
with transportation for seven years by 42 Geo. III. c. 63., I was impelled
to compare the statement founded on gossip with more formal accounts; and I
send the result in illustration of the small reliance which is to be placed
on tradition in such matters. The arrival of Hatfield in a carriage is
graphically described. He called himself the Hon. Augustus Hope, brother of
the Earl of Hopetoun. Some doubts were felt at first, but--
"To remove suspicion, he not only received letters addressed to him
under this assumed name, but he continually franked letters by that
name. Now, _that being a capital offence_, being not only a forgery,
but (as a forgery on the Post-office) sure to be prosecuted, nobody
presumed to question his pretensions any longer; and henceforward he
went to all places with the consideration due to an earl's
brother."--P. 196.
The marriage with Mary Robinson, and the way in which they passed the
honeymoon, are described:
"They continued to move backwards and forwards, until at length, _with
the startling of a thunderclap to the_ {27} _affrighted mountaineers_,
the bubble burst; officers of justice appeared, _the stranger was
easily intercepted from flight_, and, _upon a capital charge_, he was
_borne away to Carlisle_. At the ensuing assizes he was _tried for
forgery on the prosecution of the Post-office_, found guilty, left for
execution, and executed accordingly."--P. 199.
"One common scaffold confounds the most flinty hearts and the
tenderest. However, it was in some measure the heartless part of
Hatfield's conduct which drew upon him his ruin; for _the Cumberland
jury_, as I have been told, _declared their unwillingness to hang him
for having forged a frank_; and both they, and _those who refused to
aid his escape when first apprehended_, were reconciled to this
harshness entirely by what they heard of his conduct _to their injured
young fellow-countrywoman_."--P. 201.
Hatfield was not "easily intercepted from flight." Sir Frederick Vane
granted a warrant to apprehend him on the charge of forcing franks.
Hatfield ordered dinner at the Queen's Head, Keswick, to be ready at three;
took a boat, and did not return. This was on October 6: he was married to
Mary on the 2nd. In November he was apprehended near Brecknock, in Wales:
so those who refused to aid his escape, if such there were, were not
"reconciled to the hardship by what they heard of his conduct to their
young fellow-countrywoman." The "startling of the thunderclap" was preceded
by an ordinary proclamation, describing the offender, and offering a reward
of 50l. for his apprehension. He was not "hurried away to Carlisle," but
deliberately taken to London on December 12; examined at Bow Street,
remanded three times, and finally committed; and sent to Carlisle, where he
was tried on August 15, 1803.
Three indictments were preferred against him: the first for forging a bill
of exchange for 20l., drawn by Alexander Augustus Hope on John Crump,
payable to George Wood; the second for a similar bill for 30l.; and the
third for counterfeiting Colonel Hope's handwriting to defraud the
Post-office.
The Cumberland jury did not "declare their unwillingness to hang him for
forging a frank," that not being a capital offence. I infer, also, that it
was one for which he was not tried. He was convicted on the first
indictment; the court rose immediately after the jury had given their
verdict; and the prisoner was called up for judgment at eight the next
morning. Trying a man under sentence of death for a transportable felony,
is contrary to all practice. Hatfield was executed at Carlisle on September
3, 1803.
Mary's misfortunes induced the sympathising public to convert her into a
minor heroine. She seems to have been a common-place person, with small
claims to the title of "The Beauty of Buttermere." A cotemporary account
says, "she is rather gap-toothed and somewhat pock-marked." And Mr. De
Quincey, after noticing her good figure, says, "the expression of her
countenance was often disagreeable."
"A lady, not very scrupulous in her embellishment of facts, used to
tell an anecdote of her which I hope was exaggerated. Some friend of
hers, as she affirmed, in company with a large party, visited
Buttermere a day or two after that on which Hatfield suffered; and she
protested that Mary threw on the table, with an emphatic gesture, the
Carlisle paper containing an elaborate account of the execution."--P.
204.
Considering the treatment she had received, it is not unlikely that her
love, if she ever had any for a fat man of forty-five, was turned into
hatred; and it was not to be expected that her taste would keep down the
manifestation of such feeling. When Hatfield was examined at Bow Street,
Sir Richard Ford, the chief magistrate, ordered the clerk to read aloud a
letter which he received from her. It was:
"Sir,--The man whom I had the misfortune to marry, and who has ruined
me and my aged and unhappy parents, always told me that he was the Hon.
Colonel Hope, the next brother to the Earl of Hopetoun.
"Your grateful and unfortunate servant,
"MARY ROBINSON."
I do not blame Mr. De Quincey, having no doubt that he believed what he was
told; but I have put together these facts and discrepancies, to show how
careful we should be in accepting traditions, when a man of very high
ability, with the best opportunities of getting at the truth, was so
egregiously misled.
My authorities are, _The Annual Register_, 1803, pp. 421. and 428.; _The
Gentleman's Magazine_, 1803, pp. 779. 876. and 983.; Kirby's _Wonderful
Magazine_, vol. i. pp. 309. and 336. _The Newgate Calendar_ gives a similar
account but not having it at hand, I cannot vouch it.